Post Covid chest tightness, pressure in throat, dizziness, SOB

I am going on 9 months of long covid now. I am 50, but when I got covid I was extremely fit and was running 3x/week and rock climbing 3x/week. I was fully vaxed and boosted when I got it. My covid symptoms were not bad, felt like a basic cold. But what it did on day one was immediately attack my knees and give me chronic constipation. I was in a wheelchair by the end of the week and for about 3 months after from the severe knee pain. It was awful. About 2 months out I came down with double plantar fasciitis, double hip pain, severe heart palpitations and tingling sensations throughout my body. About 4 months out torso jolts at night were added to the list and double shoulder pain. I could hardly function. None of the dozen or so specialists I saw even seemed to care, and they all tried to convince me that this is what happens when you get to be 50. None of them wanted to be problem solvers, and they all just wanted to throw meds at me.
Finally at the beginning of January, I saw a new rheumatologist who quickly diagnosed me with long covid and put me on a 3-week course of prednisone. It completely took away all of my pain and man what a difference it made for me. It also made me realize just how extreme the amount of pain was, which I had learned to live with. At the same time I was on the prednisone, I got a big food sensitivity blood work test done that tested 240 things. So I cut out all of the foods that came back moderate to high. When my prednisone course was finished, my pain started creeping back and I was having good days and bad days. So in addition to cutting out my food sensitivities, I decided last month to adopt the full anti-inflammatory diet— cutting out all sugar, gluten, caffeine, and alcohol, and can now say I am doing great! My knees are almost back to normal, and all of my other pain is almost completely gone as well. My heart palpitations aren’t nearly as bad nor last as long, my torso jolts seem to be getting better too, and my body tingling is nearly gone. I still have chronic constipation, but magnesium supplements have kept it in check. I am hopeful that I can start exercising again soon.
Hang in there everyone! Hope my story and what is working for me helps others.

First of all im sorry your mom is going through this. It's exhausting and frightening. I had Covid April 2022. I was not hospitalized but was quite sick. Lasted about 2 weeks. 6 weeks after Covid I started getting heart palpitations. Later to be known as Long Haul Covid. I am 63. I was watching a movie with my husband at the beginning of my long haul Covid and my heart felt like it was jumping out of my chest. I was light headed. My fingers were tingly. I thought I was having a heart attack. I checked my blood pressure, its was 156/123. I told my husband to bring me to ER immediately. A very long story trying to make short... since then I have been in the hospital 6 times. 4 times admitted to cardiac the other two overnight in ER. I am a competitive tennis player and have never had any health issues. My blood pressure is usually to low. The hospital over the 6 times did echo's, MRI with and without dye, ultasound on my chest neck and legs (to make sure there is not a blood clot) and a CAT scan on my head. The last visit 3 months ago they kept me for 3 nights and did many of these tests again. The results; perfectly healthy heart. It's baffling and again frightening. My side of my face at one time went numb. That warranted another trip to ER by ambulance. That time I thought it was a stroke. Again they found nothing. I was beginning to thing they were incompetent or I was nuts!
The last 2 months I thought I was over long Covid. I have read several things saying it can last up to a year. I have had these issues for a year in April. I believed I was in the clear.
Last week I hired a trainer at a gym 2 days a week so if something were to go wrong they would be right there with me, and I could use their help. I went 1 day doing legs, I was fine. I went again on Friday and did upper body. 20 minutes intro the training I felt lightheadedness as well as my heart started beating rapidly I had chest pain, I stopped immediately, but the issues did not. Since then I am back to where I was with the same health issues. My resting heart rate yesterday was 115. Normally 82, give or take. My heart as I write this is out of control beating rapidly. I have over the past year read many articles from reputable sites on long Covid. They are learning more about this as time goes on. When I first had it I had no idea what was going on with me because it was not talked about publicly because they did not have a name for it. I never had issues with my lungs " thank you God" I do have very sharp pains randomly throughput my body. I had sharp pains in my head that I later learned were ice pick headaches. They are gone. I am writing all of this in your reply hoping to give you some understanding of what some people are experiencing after Covid. Also hopefully somehow it may help others to understand they are not alone. I felt in the beginning I was the only one in the world that had whatever I had because noone understood. The ER nurse had a nerve to say " maybe it's in your head... have you been drinking tonight? I was furious! I have a drink at the MOST once a month, and that is socially. Believe me I really felt alone after that comment.
I hope this helps. 🙏🏻

I am going on 9 months of long covid now. I am 50, but when I got covid I was extremely fit and was running 3x/week and rock climbing 3x/week. I was fully vaxed and boosted when I got it. My covid symptoms were not bad, felt like a basic cold. But what it did on day one was immediately attack my knees and give me chronic constipation. I was in a wheelchair by the end of the week and for about 3 months after from the severe knee pain. It was awful. About 2 months out I came down with double plantar fasciitis, double hip pain, severe heart palpitations and tingling sensations throughout my body. About 4 months out torso jolts at night were added to the list and double shoulder pain. I could hardly function. None of the dozen or so specialists I saw even seemed to care, and they all tried to convince me that this is what happens when you get to be 50. None of them wanted to be problem solvers, and they all just wanted to throw meds at me.
Finally at the beginning of January, I saw a new rheumatologist who quickly diagnosed me with long covid and put me on a 3-week course of prednisone. It completely took away all of my pain and man what a difference it made for me. It also made me realize just how extreme the amount of pain was, which I had learned to live with. At the same time I was on the prednisone, I got a big food sensitivity blood work test done that tested 240 things. So I cut out all of the foods that came back moderate to high. When my prednisone course was finished, my pain started creeping back and I was having good days and bad days. So in addition to cutting out my food sensitivities, I decided last month to adopt the full anti-inflammatory diet— cutting out all sugar, gluten, caffeine, and alcohol, and can now say I am doing great! My knees are almost back to normal, and all of my other pain is almost completely gone as well. My heart palpitations aren’t nearly as bad nor last as long, my torso jolts seem to be getting better too, and my body tingling is nearly gone. I still have chronic constipation, but magnesium supplements have kept it in check. I am hopeful that I can start exercising again soon.
Hang in there everyone! Hope my story and what is working for me helps others.

I have gone through what you have described. In Jan of 22 I ended up in the ICU for one week. My blood pressure was extremely high where normally it was on the low side. I have been on blood pressure
Meds ever since. Low energy but getting slowly better. This covid is no cold it is hard to deal with. I still get the palpitations and dizzy spells trying to be more active. I couldn’t lift anything either. I am trying hard to get my strength back and get back to my normal active self again. Hope you are doing much better now.

My first post on here, I hope I'm putting this in the right place. 2 questions please:
1. Do all long-covid sufferers have the "ground-glass opacity" in your lungs? & did they tell you this essentially viral pneumonia? Mine did, & said it may take 6 months - a year to heal. Also going thru lots of tests on my heart to see if blockages have gotten worse (had a small amount 4 years ago), I'm having lots of what seems to be angina pectoris episodes.
Thanks for sharing info.
2. I'm wondering if I should wear masks when I go out. I'm concerned about how harmful it would be if I get another illness on top of this or especially if I get covid again.

I don’t have lung issues from my long covid, but I think I have angina episodes (I call them heart flares). I’ve had long covid since July 2022, and when I got the flu in Sept, it really made my long COVID symptoms much worse. I don’t go anywhere without a mask.

My first post on here, I hope I'm putting this in the right place. 2 questions please:
1. Do all long-covid sufferers have the "ground-glass opacity" in your lungs? & did they tell you this essentially viral pneumonia? Mine did, & said it may take 6 months - a year to heal. Also going thru lots of tests on my heart to see if blockages have gotten worse (had a small amount 4 years ago), I'm having lots of what seems to be angina pectoris episodes.
Thanks for sharing info.
2. I'm wondering if I should wear masks when I go out. I'm concerned about how harmful it would be if I get another illness on top of this or especially if I get covid again.

My first post on here, I hope I'm putting this in the right place. 2 questions please:
1. Do all long-covid sufferers have the "ground-glass opacity" in your lungs? & did they tell you this essentially viral pneumonia? Mine did, & said it may take 6 months - a year to heal. Also going thru lots of tests on my heart to see if blockages have gotten worse (had a small amount 4 years ago), I'm having lots of what seems to be angina pectoris episodes.
Thanks for sharing info.
2. I'm wondering if I should wear masks when I go out. I'm concerned about how harmful it would be if I get another illness on top of this or especially if I get covid again.